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Palestinian officials said Tuesday that commercial traffic through the Gaza Strip's border crossing had yet to pick up one week after a cease-fire deal – which called for easing Israel's blockade on the coastal strip – was reached between Israel and Palestinian resistance factions.
They said Israel had not yet taken any steps to lift the crippling blockade, under which the Gaza Strip has groaned since 2007.
The cease-fire deal, signed by Palestinian and Israeli negotiators in Cairo on August 26, calls for Israel to reopen its crossings with Gaza to commercial traffic.
The cease-fire ended Israel's 51-day onslaught on the densely-populated Gaza Strip, which left 2,147 Palestinians dead – the vast majority of them civilians – and more than 11,000 injured.
"There has been no increase in commercial traffic through the Kerem Shalom border crossing," Mounir al-Ghalban, director of the Palestinian side of the crossing, said.
He said the crossing continued to operate at its pre-cease-fire capacity, being used exclusively for the entry of foodstuff and humanitarian assistance into Gaza.
Al-Ghalban said 360 trucks had been admitted into Gaza on Tuesday through the Kerem Shalom crossing, including 100 carrying humanitarian supplies.
He added that two trucks carrying cement for an international water project had also been allowed into the strip.
Two crossings between Israel and Gaza are currently operational. These include the Kerem Shalom crossing, which is dedicated to the movement of goods into the strip, and the Erez crossing, which is dedicated to human traffic.
In 2007, after Palestinian resistance group Hamas seized control of the enclave, Israel closed four of its commercial crossings with Gaza, leaving only two – including Kerem Shalom – operational.
The Israeli authorities have since used the terminal to allow limited amounts of goods and fuel into the teeming, cash-strapped coastal territory, which is home to some 1.8 million Palestinians.
On Tuesday, Israel reopened the Erez crossing to allow Palestinian businessmen and medical patients to travel between Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
Meanwhile, the Rafah crossing – which links the Gaza Strip to Egypt's Sinai Peninsula – remains partially open, according to Maher Abu Sabha, head of the Palestinian border crossings authority.
He said that no contact had been made between the Egyptian side and the Palestinian government regarding operations at the crossing.
Abu Sabha said 400 people had crossed the border on Monday, noting that the crossing was now open to humanitarian cases and humanitarian convoys.
Egyptian authorities closed the Rafah crossing almost entirely following the ouster of Mohamed Morsi – Egypt's first freely elected president – by the army last year.
During Israel's recent onslaught on Gaza, Egypt opened the crossing to injured Palestinians so they might receive medical treatment.
The cease-fire deal between Israel and Palestinian resistance factions did not include any reference to the Rafah crossing.
By Ola Attalah
englishnews@aa.com.tr
www.aa.com.tr/en - Gazze
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